Proficient user of MS Office365 and all the previous versions, plus MS Visio, LibreOffice Draw, yEd graph creator, and proprietary design tools. I learn new tools quickly. My designs work within the capabilities of your
existing hardware and software.

Other computer and business skills aiding IVR design and project delivery:
Asking the important questions to help clients identify and clarify their firm requirements. Writing and revising project specs with clear version control. Managing expectations to prevent scope creep, and to identify billable changes. Clear paper trails of the stakeholders' agreements. Facilitation of team discussions.

I advocate for the client's business success. Together, we fix your existing system to be more effective.

Non-computer skills and interests: Harpsichord performance, organ, clavichord, piano, classical recording production,
music arrangement and editing, composition,
basso continuo improvisation, tuning harpsichords by ear.
Discovered a tuning method for Bach's music,
and wrote internationally-known papers about it.
Staff writer for a bimonthly journal
reviewing classical music recordings (more than 250 published reviews), to exercise my
public writing skills.
Conversational in Spanish and German, and able to read French. 1/4 time church organist.

Objective

Role:
I design and test sensible call-flows for automated phone systems.
They must be efficient, clear, and non-intrusive.
I've put in the years as a senior IVR designer/developer, making and maintaining the big complicated systems that have call centers and integrated data sources. Some of them had speech recognition.

My passion, though, is the much simpler applications: short-term projects for small companies that don't have an IVR staff. You have a straightforward low-budget system that plays a small handful of recordings. It has touchtone navigation ("For business hours, press 3."). You know it's saying old and wrong things in its messages, and it's frustrating your customers. Its logic is broken. It's full of cliches that make callers annoyed.

You need someone to assess it, redesign it, and help you straighten out your messaging for best effectiveness. You need someone to help make your own customers happy when they phone your company or department for simple information.

That's me, your temporary consultant. I figure out what you need, and help you fix it without buying any new hardware. We'll just ask the right questions better, by industry standards of best practices for simple touchtone applications. We'll improve the messaging, the logic, the clarity, and the pace. I can edit your voice recordings to sound better, and script the right things to say. At $50/hour we will fix whatever can be fixed within 10 to 40 hours of work.

Location:
I live in
Dayton Virginia, about 125 miles from either
Washington DC or Richmond, and 65 miles from Charlottesville or Winchester.
I have an office in my house.
We can work by phone or video discussions, and e-mailing designs and audio files. I can test your system by phoning it (obviously) and listening to everything it says, along with studying the instruction manuals of your phone system.

My recent titles:

Senior Systems Architect (with emphasis on research and technical writing)

Senior Client Services Consultant (IVR industry)

Organist

Experience and education

I bring 27 years of experience as a full-time computer software designer and developer, building applications for business clients and universities; most of the last 18 years as an IVR specialist.
I have doctoral and two master's degrees in music performance and musicology (historical and analytical research), and a
bachelor's degree in mathematics and music.

Employers (1986-): IKON (2018-19), Genesys & Angel.com (2008-17), Tier Technologies & EPOS (1999-2008), CMDS (1996-9), University of Michigan, Goshen College. I was an IVR specialist for all of the companies from CMDS to Genesys, 1999-2017. For IKON (2018-19 layoff) I designed business logic for web-based applications and did technical writing (including assigned subject-matter research).

Professional highlights and responsibilities since 2008

For a small startup company (CJP/IKON, 2018 to 2019 layoff) I have had many
simultaneous roles and duties: Documentation,
technical writing, direct research, writing technical specifications, analysis of business logic, diagramming, prototyping, setup of SaaS demos, testing, version control, and facilitating discussions of the subject matter. [Details...]

Was the primary designer/developer to support and enhance the current IVR systems
for AARP.org: speech recognition, proper routing to
600 agent skills by complex rules, bilingual support, membership card renewals, other
time-sensitive messaging related to membership. I helped AARP manage more than 1000 phone numbers related to their business, 2016-17.

Helped account managers and sales staff to generate repeat business and incremental upgrades with
happy clients. My prototype apps and controlled releases showed clients the ways to measure their
business success and the improvements in usability.

Documented and developed the IVR interface of the current driver's license
renewal system
for the state of Texas (new in 2017): managed and refined their design, identified and repaired business-rule holes in their integration spec's logic, built and tested the IVR code, led their user acceptance testing to successful release.

Performed call-recording analyses of IVR performance for an airline and other clients,
assisting the speech scientists to recommend improvements

Development and Quality Assurance on long-term teams for other large clients: an electronics retailer, several banks and payment vendors, and a company that administers calls into prison systems

Built and supported more than 100 smaller client IVR/VUI applications for Angel.com and Genesys. These are voicemail and call-center systems, and stand-alone applications with no agents. I worked variously on design, direct implementation, testing, and release cycles for:

Managed the company's purchase of professional voice-talent sessions from 2008-12; prepared recording scripts in several languages; ordered, checked, and edited the audio files for proper usability and effective timing.

Thorough documentation and technical specifications for the above projects, within project budget allowances:
I insist on having the resulting systems
easily supportable from technical and business perspectives.

Assistant project management: served as liaison between technical teams and managers, provided backup coverage while project managers were out, mentored newer
team members, and managed document repositories. I am a catalyst to help teams run smoothly, and to make sure all the important questions get asked.